A teenage drummer from Speyside has retained his position as one of the top performers in the country.
For the second year in a row, Daniel Gordon from Aberlour has been named as one of the 40 best drummers in the UK.
The 16-year-old has been entering the competition for six years now and was delighted, but also relieved, to maintain his position.
Daniel said: “It definitely came as a big relief because I was there last year so I definitely wanted to make sure I was there again.
“I had been going on the website a lot just checking to see if the results had gone up yet to see if I was there again.
“When I saw my name it just came as a big relief. It wouldn’t have been a good feeling to slip out of it having been there.”
This year will be the final year that Daniel is eligible for entering the competition, which is only open for musicians up to the age of 16.
Remarkably, despite his young age, the teenager already has nearly 10 years experience of keeping a beat on the instrument.
Entrants had to submit a two-minute video of themselves performing on an acoustic drum kit to be in with a chance of winning a place in the top 40.
Daniel was encouraged to put himself forward by his drum teacher initially after other Moray students had found success in previous years.
The talented multi-instrumentalist has also turned his hand to the guitar in recent years to add another string to his bow.
And the S5 pupil at Speyside High School already has his eyes set on a future career in the industry.
The teenager has recently started performing in the ceilidh band Broma and is now coming into a busy spell with gigs.
For Hogmanay the drummer will have party-goers performing twirls on the dancefloor as he beats out some popular ceilidh classics.
Despite a preference for playing Latin music in a mix of time signatures the Speyside pupil is revelling in performing in front of a live audience.
He said: “We’ve just started up really. We had our first gig at the Spey Bay Golf Club and we’re playing at the Inchberry Hall in Fochabers for Hogmanay.
“I know some of the members of the band and knew they didn’t have a drummer so it seemed pretty natural to slip into it.
“I’ve been playing since I was seven. I don’t really know what got me into it in the first place – I guess I just fancied it.
“It’s not really the kind of instrument kids that age play. I have a family member that had a kit so I was always having a shot on theirs.”
